NEWARK — On paper, Deidre Gully works for the Newark Police Department.

The 43-year-old detective has served the agency for nearly five years, according to public records, and law enforcement officials say she has worked as a detective conducting tavern enforcement with the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control board.

But if you call Newark Fire Director Fateen Ziyad’s office and ask for his secretary, the receptionist will direct you to the same Deidre Gully. E-mails obtained by The Star-Ledger show Gully issuing schedules for fire department meetings, mitigating disputes filed by the city fire union and conducting other business on Ziyad’s behalf.

The dueling job descriptions have union leaders wondering why police are paying Gully more than $80,000 per year — plus roughly $4,000 in overtime during the first six months of 2012 — to work as the fire director’s secretary.

With the city still relying on more than $10 million in state aid to operate, and the police department at its smallest since the 1980s, some say the situation is illustrative of governmental waste in Newark.

"Some nights we’re sending out (just) three cars in precincts, but we have enough manpower to loan out people to the fire department?" said James Stewart Jr., president of Newark’s Fraternal Order of Police.

Gully and Ziyad did not respond to calls for comment.

The police department laid off more than 160 officers in 2010, and subsequent crime spikes led many to blame the manpower loss for the increased bloodshed. The agency staffs roughly 1,050 officers, its lowest roster size since the 1980s, Stewart said.

Gully, 43, has served as Ziyad’s secretary since December 2010, even though she has been on the police department payroll since February of 2007, according to records and Chuck West, president of Newark’s firefighters union.

Police and fire officials dismissed union officials’ complaints, describing Gully as an "intricate part" of joint operations between the two agencies. She worked for 15 years as a "senior administrative analyst" for the fire department, according to police Sgt. Ronald Glover, before becoming part of both the city’s ABC board and Abandoned Buildings Task Force.

Police Director Samuel DeMaio said Gully’s work benefits both agencies, and described her as a "liaison to the fire department." But union leaders contend that position doesn’t exist. DeMaio said he recently created the post as part of a widening plan to link police and fire department operations, and Gully’s experience made her a natural fit.

Either way, DeMaio doesn’t understand the complaints.

"I don’t see an issue at all, especially now that we work hand-in-hand with the fire department. If we need stuff from them, they give us people to go out and do operations. We give them people to help them out with operations," he said. "They’re fire, we’re police, but it’s all one team."

Glover also said the overtime assignments Gully amassed came through the department’s "Outside Employment Unit," meaning her pay did not draw on the city’s overtime funds.

West said the description of Gully’s duties are inaccurate, that she is not a liaison between departments.